James May - Man Lab - How not to wire a plug.

Oct 31, 2010 80 Replies

No, those (with arming wires) were parachute mines, not bombs. Many of these were dropped on land too, they're the infamous "17 seconds" clock delay. Although some were indeed dropped (and found) with wires attached, this was rare. However there was a gadget called a "gag" that was inserted into the wire hole to stop the clock. If the clock started running whilst it was being worked on, the choice was to either run or to try and get the gag inserted ASAP.

German bombs used electric fuzes with internal capacitors, which had a charge cap to arm them, not a pull wire.

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